Tee-Bowls' First Order Trooper TFA/TLJE Build (KB Props)

[Tee-Bowls[501st]]

15 hours ago, Peregrinus said:

I ordered mine from Gio, aka CROW PROPS. He just got an actual web site set up, but I suggest talking to him about it on Facebook first, so he's expecting the order. I've gotten three other pairs of boots from him over the years, and plan to get more yet. He's a good guy and does pretty good work. The link to his store is one of the first posts in the FB page's timeline, so you can go there and see his Phasma boots, but here's a direct link, for convenience.

 

I know that feel. I have my GeekyPink neckseal in hand and it's lovely. I have the gloves and boots ordered. I theoretically have the thigh holster upgrade package coming from Dan at some point soon (and which I'm planning to anodize red for better color durability). I'm still making payments on the ANOVOS kit, pending it actually arriving in their warehouse, at which point I'll pay off the balance and shipping in one go. I'm planning to order the SE-44C kit next. Holding off until later this month or December to check bodysuit and cape off the list... And I'm a little annoyed it's been over a month and a half since he and I initially talked about it, but I've never heard back from Jimmi on a price point for the Phasma boot armor on its own (he already offers the boot and glove armor as a standalone package). I don't want to get too far into supplies beyond paint and glue until I know better what might have changed between ANOVOS' earlier version and this one, but I am going to be getting Tony's hole-backing kit over the next couple days, and I've socked in a lot of the other known accurizing supplies and materials to make the suspension rigging...

 

...But ultimately I can only go so far without the actual frikkin' armor. 

Thank you for the tip about the boots! I just ordered the ammo pouches so I'm making progress!

 

Need to order:

Boots (CrowProps) waiting to hear back

 

Ordered but waiting on:

Armor (KB Props) 

Cardinal Gloves (Imperial Boots)

Gaskets (Geeky Pink/Teresa/Soulart)

Cape (Geeky Pink/Teresa/Soulart)

Canvas Ammo Pouches (Trooperbay)

 

In my possession:

Helmet (KB Props)

Holster (Dan)

3D Printed SE-44c (Germain's Files)

3D Printed F11-D (Germain's Files)

Undersuit (stormtrooperundersuit.com)

Belt Kit (JAFO/Darren)

 

I feel like I'm making progress but I agree Jonah it's hard to do anything without having the armor. I don't think I'm leaving anything out from my list but if I am let me know lol. I don't want to overlook anything and then need it.

[Peregrinus]

I assume you're set for strapping and buckles and such? Read through Tony's build log five times? *chuckle*

[Peregrinus]

Just to let you know, I just got the shipping notice for my gloves about an hour ago, so hopefully yours will be on the way, too. One step closer.

[Tee-Bowls[501st]]

15 hours ago, Peregrinus said:

Just to let you know, I just got the shipping notice for my gloves about an hour ago, so hopefully yours will be on the way, too. One step closer.

Yes I received the notice as well! However I can't get my tracking to work. Oh well I guess it'll be a surprise!

 

More good news! Saturday was my BBB Day!

 

 

 

Since KB Props is local there was no shipping and hence no need for a real big box. 

 

So here it is! Everything spread out!

 

 

I didn't get the Phasma boots parts. I'm going to message KB a bit later for them, However I'm going to do both parts in case it turns out one way or the other. 

 

I also received a new helmet from him as well!

 

 

Here it is with the old helmet.

 

 

Both Helmets together.

 

 

A comparison of the two helmets.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm excited to get to work on my armor! I'll start on the Handplates and forearms soon! 

[jav[501st]]

Thank you for doing this!  

[Peregrinus]

My boots have just shipped. If you went with Gio, hopefully this means yours will be on the way soon, too. Also, I just messaged KB about Phasma boot armor (and said I was asking on behalf of a couple people, as I don't know if you'd gotten around to asking him yet). I'll let you know what he says -- unless you've already talked to him, in which case never mind.  I got tired of never hearing back from Jimmi (RPF, FB, or e-mail).

[Tee-Bowls[501st]]

On 11/25/2017 at 9:47 AM, Peregrinus said:

My boots have just shipped. If you went with Gio, hopefully this means yours will be on the way soon, too. Also, I just messaged KB about Phasma boot armor (and said I was asking on behalf of a couple people, as I don't know if you'd gotten around to asking him yet). I'll let you know what he says -- unless you've already talked to him, in which case never mind.  I got tired of never hearing back from Jimmi (RPF, FB, or e-mail).

I did order from Gio however I haven't received anything about boots since I ordered them. I'm also going to contact KB about the boot armor again.

 

This past weekend was extremely productive and I hope to continue this throughout my build.

 

I started on the forearms.

 

I cut out the top parts of the forearms with no problem.

 

 

 

I cut wrong already on the weird forearm connection pieces, however I was able to glue it back together. 

 

 

I'm going to check the other build threads on here to see if anybody was able to get them cut/glued properly.

 

I moved on in the meantime to the handplates.

 

 

I also decided that as I finish pieces I'm going to paint them instead of trying to paint a large amount at once. Quality control issues have made me wary of painting in the first place.

 

Here are the painted Hand plates!

 

 

 

I need to add velcro and paint in the black details but other than that they are ready to go!

 

Up next were the shoulder bells! Here are the trimmed shoulder bells.

 

 

 

 

I have to glue these two parts together and the shoulder bells will be ready for painting.

 

Final part I was able to work on this weekend was the biceps. I was able to trim a lot of the extra plastic off and still have it fit better than my ANH biceps. 

 

 

While I figure out the forearms I need to move ahead to my next part. I might work my way from the chest/back down. If you notice anything or have any helpful tips they are always welcome! 

[heartstopper85[TK]]

Just some minor caution, I have a green and gold tk for fun. I tried the paint as I trimmed pieces thing and ended up having to go back and repaint after I rigged and fitted do to sizing issues with rubs etc.

It might be wise to rig and size before painting, I've kinda learned the hard way on that. Certainly understand the logic behind doing a part than painting it.

[Peregrinus]

I go for the "pleased psychic" (happy medium) approach. Once you've got a subassembly finished, fitted, and rigged, then paint. I don't think you have to wait until the end-end, but definitely be mindful. Handplates and knees are conveniently isolated parts. Biceps and forearms once you've got them fitted to your body and over gaskets and gloves... I presume y'all have gone through ukswrath's build thread at least twice. *heh* Since you're not taking it to be professionally painted in an auto shop, I'd just recommend noting where in the building/finishing sequence he painted the various assembled bits and following that lead -- albeit in whatever staggered timeline works for you.

 

In his case, he was ready to paint because he had made sure everything worked on his body and with each other. I think this is achievable in stages, but stay aware of what needs to work with what. Arms as I mentioned above, shoulders once you've got them assembled, legs like the arms (knees can be done on their own, as I said -- just make sure of the spacing), boot armor can be done on its own (though I admit I'll be experimenting a bit with the heel to see what works best)... The torso, however, is all based on the ab/kidney piece. The belt and its pouches and boxes have to be fitted and shaped to it once it's assembled to the right size, the ab boxes need it assembled to trim them to the right edge shapes (remember they're bolted on separately, after painting), and the chest and back need to be trimmed to fit over it just so.

 

But as he showed, if you've done it right up to that point, all the rigging mounts and such can be done after painting without screwing up the paint. Note where he masked stuff off prior to being painted, too, to give a raw-plastic surface for the glue to bond with.

[heartstopper85[TK]]

following working on a similar pull of KB for a pilot. Have you gotten to the back and yoke yet? Thanks for updates pumped to see the updates

[Tee-Bowls[501st]]

So time for another update! I was able to get all of the extremity pieces trimmed!

 

Also I plan on painting in sections. When I did my ANH I did two larger groups and I ended up messing up on my first batch so bad that I had to repurchase the parts again. Anyway I learned a whole lot about using rattlecans to paint and I think I'm set. The only reason I painted the hand plates was because they are pretty much their own section. They attach to the gloves and nothing else. My sections are going to be Arms, Chest, torso, belt, legs, and helmet, in no particular order. 

 

Here are my trimmed Kneeplates.

 

 

 

 

The trimmed Shins.

 

 

I went back to work on trimming the forearms. I'm still a little confused about the side sections but I'll figure it out.

 

 

Here are the trimmed thighs. I was lucky enough to have KB draw on the correct lines for more accurate thighs when I picked up my armor so it was a lot easier to trim.

 

 

 

I'll be working on the Chest/Back/Yoke area next. I have to wait for my gaskets before I get into sizing and trimming again. 

Edited December 6, 2017 by Tee-Bowls

[Tee-Bowls[501st]]

After a mixture of recovering from surgery and the holidays, I've finally found time to update this build thread! 

 

Up next for trimming were the spats.

 

 

Then came the Chest plate.

 

The Back Plate.

 

 

The TD parts.

 

 

 

Before Trimming I tried to understand the back connection.

 

 

Moving onto the yoke/back connection pieces.

 

 

 

Finished the AB plate and Kidney plate.

 

 

The Cod and butt plate were also trimmed.

 

 

I did get my Cardinal Gloves in and they look great against the painted hand plates.

 

 

 

After my back surgery and that whole ordeal I think I'm going to be putting a hold on Captain Cardinal. I'm going to move onto being a regular FOTK and save Cardinal for later. I haven't been able to join the 501st with my ANH armor and I'd rather get in first and then make a Cardinal later. 

[Tee-Bowls[501st]]

I am back! At least on the forums. I've been working on my armor but I've put off updating my build thread because I was making progress and didn't want to stop to document, then the procrastination never ended (plus a wedding and honeymoon). 

 

At any rate with the confusion over the CRL for Captain Cardinal I decided that getting 501st approval was more important to me right now. I did however months ago get the Executioner parts from KB, and decided to make a TFA/TLJE and once I get another helmet a TLJ trooper. 

 

 

I then started working on finishing off the TFA  helmet (Minus the lenses).

 

 

 

I trimmed all of the new pieces since I already had some experience with the TFA parts it went much faster.

 

 

Around this time I started to focus on building an SE-44c and F-11D with Germain's amazing files! I'm using Simplify 3D for my slicing software and a Creality CR-10 for printing. 3D Solutech Black,White, and Silver 1.75 PLA for filaments. I won't post all of the pictures here, but if anybody is interested I can make separate build threads.

 

 

I also picked up the new KB forearms and the TD/plate.

 

 

The finished SE-44c. The only thing missing is the holster/screw plate that was painting at the time.

 

 

Of course I had to see what it was list to hold if with the gloves on because I'm "slightly" impatient. 

 

 

 

And of course I had to get a photo with the unfinished helmet on.

 

 

I have not finished the F-11D yet due to some electrical problems but this is where I am at with it currently. I do have the flashlight attachment working, just working on getting the red LEDs working/installed.

 

 

I also printed off all the parts for the Laser Ax from files from Clint. I don't have any photos of the parts right now, but again I'll be more than happen to post a build thread if anybody is interested.

 

Moving on I did eventually install the lenses into the helmet.

 

 

 Please ignore the dirty Kitchen, If my wife knew i took a photo like this she would never let me live it down. 

 

Next up were the new and improved 2 piece forearms!

 

 

 

I haven't decided if I'm going to glue the pieces together of use some sort of velcro attachment to the inner sections to allow me to take it on/off easier.

 

Up next are the biceps parts. 

 

The back of the biceps.

 

The Front of the biceps.

 

 

Once again i had to try some parts on, and I'm glad I did.

 

 

I know I'm not wearing mu under suit and gaskets and the biceps are falling, but I realized I needed to trim the length of the biceps down thanks to my shorter limbs. 

 

I also worked a bit on the spats ahead of the rest of the legs, nothing major just some light trimming/fitting.

 

 

I then figured it was time to work on the new helmet.

 

Cut out the lenses.

 

Cut out the mesh holes/teeth and sanded everything back (ignore the snapchat text box it was the only picture I have of it right now).

 

Next up was gluing the Yokes together.

 

The TFA yoke/backplate.

 

 

 

Then it was time to glue the TLJ-E Yoke/Back plate.

 

 

 

For both back sections, I've filled in the seems and sanded everything down. I've also cut the yoke down more to fit.

 

I started to line up all the ab boxes and drilled the holes for my Chicago screws.

 

 

A Little unrelated to the build but I picked up A BB-8 Droid from Target that will make a perfect little stand-in until I create my own!

 

I worked on sanding some parts and finishing of the TD plate trimming.

 

I also glued the little greeblies to the chest plate.

 

I trimmed down the ab boxes to the ab plate and this is what I'm currently working on. I'm going to get them glued to the screws, and filled in so when I paint, it'll appear seamless. In the picture below it's just some painters tape holding the boxes to the end of the screws.

 

Of course you need to have some fun while working on this so why not take a fun selfie! 

 

 

If you notice anything that seems off or have any questions, tips, tricks, fun comments,etc, go ahead and post them! It feels good to finally post some of these pictures so I can get back to work without the pile getting larger! 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Great work, coming along nicely. It can be hard to stop work when you are on a roll  

[Tee-Bowls[501st]]

6 hours ago, gmrhodes13 said:

Great work, coming along nicely. It can be hard to stop work when you are on a roll  

Thank you! I hope I can keep it up! I want to be finished before October. 

[Ensi[TK]]

Screen used forearms seems to not be glued all the way on one side, probably for easier kitting up.

 

 

Also the ab boxes don't have to be seamless, see pic:

 

 

Looks like they are just attached. Maybe @ukswrath can chime in on both points?

 

Great work btw 

[Peregrinus]

3 hours ago, Ensi said:

Also the ab boxes don't have to be seamless, see pic:

I thought the requirements specifically said to make them not seamless, because of that very reason...

[Tee-Bowls[501st]]

On 8/20/2018 at 9:48 AM, Ensi said:

Screen used forearms seems to not be glued all the way on one side, probably for easier kitting up.

 

 

Also the ab boxes don't have to be seamless, see pic:

 

 

Looks like they are just attached. Maybe @ukswrath can chime in on both points?

 

Great work btw 

Ah alright, I'll just use velcro for the forearms and it'll be more screen accurate and easier to take on/off.

 

For the ab boxes I misread the section about the seamless connection with the ab/kidney sections. I'll just glue and secure the ab boxes and make sure they are flush to the ab plate.

 

It's time for a small update. I took pictures of the filled in yoke sections, the 3D printed parts for the Executioner's axe, and the new helmet electronics I received from Tony/ukswrath.

 

Here is the TFA yoke section that I've filled in with EP-400 Epoxy Putty. I've also trimmed this sections down to fit better with the chest plate and the gaskets on.

 

 

 

Here's the filled in TLJ-E yoke. It's filled with EP-400 as well, however I haven't fit/cut this like I have the TFA section.

 

 

 

Here is my box of 3D printed Laser axe pieces, The dowel for the handle and the aluminum bar are not shown, They are in a different box. If anybody is interested ina build thread for this let me know, and I'll start one. 

 

 

Finally for this update I ordered and received a FOTK speaker system, V2 fan bracket, and the Audio system from TOny/ukswrath. I'll be putting it all into my helmet over the next few days. If I can get everything in comfortably and working properly I'll be adding this to my TLJ-E helmet and eventually my TLJ helmet when I order it.

 

 

 

I still feel like I have quite a bit of work to do but I hope to have everything finished soon. 

[TheSwede[TK]]

How is the build comming along?

[Tee-Bowls[501st]]

On 9/10/2018 at 1:16 PM, TheSwede said:

How is the build comming along?

Not great but this is more of a reason to get more work done!

 

After a few weeks of sickness from everyone in my household, I'm finally able to get back to work.

 

Up first was the belt pieces! for the most part they are trimmed and ready for sanding.

 

 

So I'm hung up on the ab section. The piece I have has bad edge curling, and I don't know how to flatten it out without causing problems for myself later. I tried to glue in supports to connect the ab to the kidney plates before I noticed.

 

 

 

 

 

This is what happens when I just try to match up the pieces.

 

I think I might need to heat bend/flatten it out? I also don't like how much the ab plate over hangs compared to the kidney plate. At any rate, I have a deadline I made for myself, and it's coming up soon so it's making me work on my armor almost everyday and I'm making small amounts of progress.

[shashachu[TK]]

Personally I'd probably just trim the curled part off, glue with an inner cover strip, then fill the seam. (Caveat I do have a KB kit but haven't gotten to the ab section yet.)

[Tee-Bowls[501st]]

On 10/5/2018 at 5:35 PM, shashachu said:

Personally I'd probably just trim the curled part off, glue with an inner cover strip, then fill the seam. (Caveat I do have a KB kit but haven't gotten to the ab section yet.)

That's not far off from what I did do. I had already glued some inner strips in way back when, and it was also one of the problems I had trimming the curled sections off. 

 

After quite a long time I was finally able to successfully trim down the curled edges!

 

 

 

 

 

I glued all the end of the Chicago screws into the back of the ab boxes.

 

 

 

 

The attached Ab Boxes! I've been so hung up on this section and now that I've broken through I'm planning on making major progress! 

 

 

Tonight I'm going to work on finishing the Ab/kidney connections off and getting the cod piece and butt plate attached. Or I'll jump down to the shins just for fun. Is there a difference between the Curved shins/Thighs and what would be considered for approval because the CRL doesn't say anything curve or non curve wise.

 

Edited October 11, 2018 by Tee-Bowls

[Tee-Bowls[501st]]

Time for another small update! Over the past week I purchased a First Order Pauldron from heartstopper85 via Diversity Props and received it on Saturday. I was on the fence about getting it but I saw it and knew I had to jump on it!

 

The Pauldron.

 

 

It has magnets already installed but they aren't the most powerful so I might switch them out. 

 

 

I also decided I wanted a better connection for my lenses so I thought I would go the Chicago screw route. I'm not using the lenses that go with the KB kit. I tried to heat bend them and I snapped the pair in half. Instead I'm using lenses from VaderPaintStudios. I did split the lenses but some glue was added and It all worked for the best.

 

 

The installed lenses.

 

 

 

I think it came out pretty good, and if I even need to change the lens it won't be difficult at all.

 

 

I also attached the kid plates to the ab section.

 

 

 

 

I plan on filling those gaps and getting the magnetic closure for the ab section done soon and then its cod,butt and the torso assembly for the most part is finished besides the belt. then come my biggest obstacle. THE LEGS . The legs have always been the most difficult portion of any armor for me. Hopefully I won't run into any problems, but being 5'4 wearing armor designed for someone much taller always leaves you open for them to arise. 

 

At any rate! that's it for this update! Right now I'm focusing more on finishing the TFA trooper and then I'll go back and finish the TLJ-E parts. 

 

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Very nice, I added some veclro to my pauldron in case the magnets didn't hold, just folds under the neck  

 

Coming along nicely

[Tee-Bowls[501st]]

So this weekend was spent finishing off the ab section. I'm making large amounts of progress and I should be able to finish up soon.

 

Here is the filled ab section. I had to build false boxes to fill in the gaps, and then used Epoxy Putty to fill in the remaining spaces. 

 

 

 

I had to create a separate back plate to fill in the large gap across the back I had. On this back plate I glued magnets to help with taking the abs on and off. 

 

 

 

 

A full picture of the ab section. Still needs sanding and painting but progress is progress at this point.

 

 

 

Up next are the legs!